The Weevil & I
by TasteTheRainbow84
Summary: Short stories involving the Harkness-Jones kids
1. The Weevil & I

"Rah!"

Jack couldn't help a chuckle as his youngest daughter attempted a growl at their resident weevil, Janet. The weevil responded by letting out a soft keening noise and nuzzling against the glass where the little girl stood causing Emily to giggle in delight.

"When since have weevils gone rah??" Owen asked in amusement as he came down to join them. He had come down to watch the weevil and child since he found it quite interesting on how Janet became all mother hen at the sight of Jack's and Ianto's children. Though it could all be a façade, he didn't know what she would be like if the glass wasn't between them but Jack and Ianto had pointed out that neither wanted to find out the hard way but Janet's mothering seemed to be genuine.

"You really expect Emily to do a proper growl? She's three years old Owen" Jack replied with a roll of his blue eyes. "Well her vocal chords are still developing, she should be able to reach the deep growl" Owen shrugged. "Are you making that up?" Jack asked with narrowed eyes. "Could be, guess you'll never know" Owen smirked as he crouched down to the little girl with his arms out ready for his daily hug.

"Emily" Owen grinned as the little girl brought her attention to her Uncle Owen and pouted with a shake of her head, making her dark locks bounce against her cheeks. "Want to play with Janet! No hug!" she told him.

Jack was surprised to see that Owen looked hurt at the little girl declining to have a hug with him. "But a hug is about five seconds long Emmy. Please" Owen begged, giving her his best mock pout.

"I want to play with Janet!" Emily told him again, making her lower lip quiver. "You can give your uncle a hug, Janet isn't going anywhere young lady. Now stop misbehaving or I'm taking you back up and giving you to your Da. He'll get you putting brochures in capital order in the information centre as a punishment or scarily a lesson in life" Jack warned her, raising his eyebrows as he spoke. He knew how to handle his youngest, Emily was his little princess and she was all him. Of course, she loved Ianto as much as Jack but she was Jack's daddy's girl and he used it as an advantage when their daughter was being naughty. As much as she didn't want to leave Janet, she hated being parted from Jack even more. One time, Toshiko had babysat her whilst the rest of the team went out on a mission and she had screamed the place down until Jack had returned and swooped her into his arms and made everything better again. It made his role as leader extra hard when he had a small child to take care of but he refused to ask for help and put everything onto Ianto.

Emily looked at her father with wide eyes and whimpered, quickly opening her arms up and hugging Owen with all her might, causing Owen to make a 'whoof' noise as he opened his own arms to accommodate the small child. "That's a girl" he grinned, hugging her back gently. As soon as he let her go again, she was back to the glass again and pressing her little nose against it as Janet crouched down and started to make the soft keening noise once again.

"You'll make that weevil broody Jack. Then where will we be? On the hunt for a male weevil to satisfy her needs and make her a bloody mother" Owen commented with a roll of his eyes and not looking at all enthusiastic about the idea, but scarily Jack did.

"That's not a bad idea. I'll run it by Ianto and see what he thinks" Jack chuckled. "Yeah, I bet he will be delighted since he has to feed the pets and the kids, bringing more pets in would make him the most happiest welshman on the face of the earth!" Owen replied sarcastically.

"Shut up Owen. You can go back up and finish the report that you're taking forever to work on. I'll stay with my daughter" Jack told him as he picked his daughter up and stood in front of Janet's cage. Jack decided to ignore Owen's mutterings knowing that he wasn't saying anything complimentary about him and bounced his daughter gently in his arms. "Do you want to go up baby or watch Janet for a little while?" he asked her, knowing the answer as he daughter excitedly answered, "Janet!!"


	2. A Little Cheater

"That's cheating young man!" Rhys scolded as Griffin once again looked at his card before throwing it on top of the already growing pile of up facing playing cards on the floor of the hub.

Rhys had been playing an animated game of Snap with Griffin for about half hour to keep him entertained. He wasn't quite sure when he had been recruited as the Harkness-Jones' babysitter but since his hours had been changed at work, he could manage to work around it and help the two men out occasionally, plus he absolutely loved looking after Griffin. He was the cutest five year old imaginable and Rhys loved him. He had positively beamed when Jack and Ianto had started to allow Griffin to call him an Uncle and they both agreed that Rhys deserved the title.

"Not!" Griffin answered as he looked at yet another card and yelled triumphantly "Snap! Won again!" he grinned. Rhys rolled his eyes and let Griffin gather the cards and put it back into his pile then looked down at his, he was down to about five cards. "So looking at them before you place them on the pile isn't cheating then? And that's about the eighth time in a row that you've won Griffin" Rhys asked with a chuckle.

"It's not cheating! It's learning!" Griffin declared, giving Rhys a serious look. "How exactly?" Rhys asked before shaking his head in amusement, Griffin was only five years old, it was obvious that he was going to cheat and he should really be letting him win anyway otherwise the little boy would start getting grumpy at losing. "Never mind, you won so you start the game".

"What's going on in here?" Jack asked as he waddled in. Rhys couldn't quite help terming Jack's walk as a waddle. Jack was heavily pregnant and due to it, his strut had suffered quite a bit. Rhys had witnessed a pregnant Jack when he had been carrying Griffin but it was still quite a shock to the system to see a man pregnant. Despite Gwen and Ianto explaining that Jack was from the future and somewhere along the line, it became natural for a male to carry young, Rhys still found it quite unbelievable to witness.

"Your son is cheating at Snap. Its alright though, its to be expected" Rhys explained with a shrug. Jack looked at Rhys then at his son with raised eyebrows before shaking his head. "No, he's not cheating. We're nipping that in the bud right now" Jack told them both.

"Shouldn't you be sitting down Jack? It might be easier on your back" Rhys suggested, gesturing to the nearest workstation which happened to be Toshiko's where her chair was tidily tucked under her desk. "You shouldn't be standing for long periods in your condition" he added as he saw Jack make no movement towards the chair.

"Have you been reading a lot of pregnancy books Rhys?" Jack asked in amusement but did what he was told, turning the chair so he was facing Rhys and Griffin, secretly grateful to Rhys for suggesting him to sit down, his feet and back were beyond killing him. "Well sort of, me and Gwen are trying" Rhys replied truthfully. "Really? Any luck?" Jack asked, surprised and suddenly very interested.

"No, we're having trouble conceiving. We'll keep trying though, if we keep having problems then we're going to see a Doctor and see what they suggest. Anyway enough about me and Gwen, where's Ianto?" Rhys told him, quickly changing the subject. He didn't really want to discuss his personal life and Gwen with Jack Harkness or with little ears listening in. Griffin wouldn't understand much of what was being said but he still had to be thought of when the adults had conversations otherwise it was question time for ages.

"Oh he's gone out with his sister on a shopping trip. Griffin needs new clothes and he needs to get other stuff in. Like food. I'm not really a shopping person so Ianto phoned Rhiannon who was delighted at being asked. Which brings me to another question, are you ok with babysitting Griffin? Rhiannon is more than willing to take him off our hands for a couple of hours so we can work. Well the best that I can now anyway before my due date. It probably would make sense since she's his real aunt" Jack asked, sounding a little tentative as he explained.

"No I'm fine babysitting him Jack. Don't you worry, he's an absolute treasure to look after….but his real aunt should baby sit if she wants to spend time with her nephew" Rhys sighed, looking disappointed at the very idea. "No, I'll just explain that we have a brilliant babysitter at the moment. I kinda hoped you wanted to keep babysitting him…and the baby once he's born?" Jack asked, looking hopeful. "Of course!" Rhys announced happily.

"Right, let's get to teaching this little cheater then shall we? Griffin, give your cards back to Uncle Rhys so he can reshuffle them and then you are going to play properly and no tantrums about it" Jack ordered his son, rolling his eyes as Griffin pouted at him but gathered his messy pile of playing cards and handed them over to Rhys who patiently started to put them back in a neat pile before reshuffling the pack once again.

"Ok, now we don't look at the cards before we put them on the pile. You just put them down. As soon as there is a match, it's the faster person who shouts snap who gets the card. Not that hard, now I'm going to watch whilst you play another game with Uncle Rhys and make sure that you don't cheat young man" Jack explained, his one hand resting on his baby bump as he made himself comfortable.

Griffin sighed dramatically as he took his share of cards from Rhys as the Welshman offered them to him and put his first card down which was 8 of Hearts. Rhys followed suit with a 6 of clubs. Jack watched as they played, nodding in satisfaction when a match came up in the game and Griffin yelled out Snap. It was obvious that Rhys was letting him win but as long as his son wasn't cheating then Jack was happy.

"Right, I'll leave you two to it then. I'm going for a lie down for a little while. Rhys, put Griffin down for a nap in about twenty minutes. Ianto, will wake him when dinner is ready" Jack smiled, getting up with a little bit of difficulty.

When Jack had gone, Rhys looked at Griffin mischievously. "So shall we have another game? Daddy's way or cheat? I won't tell him if you cheat" Rhys promised, crossing his heart as he said it. Griffin grinned cheekily back and announced happily "Cheat!"


	3. The Dollhouse

Jack stood in the room patiently, his eyes watching the man as he worked. It was amazing really, how he managed to make something out of nothing. Just from a simple drawing and making it extraordinary.

"So this is for who again?" Thomas asked as he put the finishing touches to the dollhouse. It was massive, a twist on a Victorian house with the outside colour having a hint of pink to make it a little more girly for a little girl. Jack had met Thomas a few years back and he had been making toys for his children ever since. He had made Griffin a wooden train, which could either be pulled by its string or pushed around manually for his fourth birthday and he had made Tucker a wooden plane for his sixth birthday. Jack chuckled to himself as he remembered that present, Jack had originally wanted Thomas to make Tucker a wooden clown to play with until Ianto, Gwen and Toshiko had looked at him in horror and declared that clowns were evil and that a more boyish toy would be best suited for his son.

"My daughter. Its for her third birthday" Jack replied proudly. "Ah is your last then? Big age gap between her and your sons. What's her name?" Thomas asked as he worked. Jack chuckled softly, the age gap between Emily and the boys was always mentioned when strangers met them. Truth be told, Jack and Ianto had struggled to conceive after Tucker and it was only eight years later that they had finally managed to get Jack pregnant again. It was probably why Jack had such a difficult pregnancy with her, his body was starting to reject being put through it again at his age. And that was one big age.

"Yeah she's our last one. Me and my partner were trying for a daughter and we weren't giving up until we had one. She's a little angel though, perfect in every way imaginable. But yes, there is a slight age difference but we never had time to actually try for another with our jobs being extremely hectic. Her name is Emily-Rose. Rose is named after one of my friends that we lost years ago. Its in her memory" Jack replied, twisting the truth a little with Rose. He knew that Thomas would just assume that Rose had died when he said lost and in a way it was sort of true, she had 'died' here but lived in another dimension. Last time he had heard anything about her, she had married her human Doctor and was on her second baby.

"Well I'm sorry for your loss. Right, I think we're all finished here. You can take it now or do you want it delivered?" Thomas asked as he took Jack's payment for the dollhouse. "I'll take it myself. It's actually her birthday today but her Auntie is babysitting her whilst we sort out presents and the little tea party we're putting together. I'll be fine carrying it out to the car" Jack explained as he picked it up. It was slightly heavy but it was more awkward to carry than anything else. "Thank you again, I don't know what I'd do without you Thomas. You're an absolute lifesaver!" Jack thanked him, extremely grateful. "Well I'm supposed to be starting my retirement but anything for a dear friend. Anytime Jack and thank you once again for all the help you've given to me in the past. Hope your little one enjoys her birthday" Thomas grinned, moving to the door so he could at least hold it open for the Captain.

Rhiannon had agreed immediately at looking after her niece when her brother had phoned her. She hardly had the boys when they were smaller since Ianto's colleague's husband, Rhys took the most care of them. She had been a little annoyed by that but she had children herself and she understood that Ianto didn't want to put too much on her when she was a mother with her own young to take care of.

She had enjoyed spending the day with her niece however, and had given her the birthday present that she had bought her first thing. Emily seemed to love it. It was a Barbie doll, nothing originally but it had caught Rhiannon's eye when she had been shopping for a birthday present. Johnny had just asked to have his name put on the card, which she was going to do anyway since she had to put her children's names on it as well.

"Johnny? Do you have Em?" Rhiannon called up the stairs as she finished tidying up. Her brother said that he would ring fifteen minutes before picking up Emily but she still wanted to be ready for him and Jack. God, her brother was so bloody lucky! Jack Harkness was gorgeous and between Ianto and him, their children were beautiful.

"Yeah! Just playing with her! Your darling brother rang up to fetch her yet?" Johnny called down, carrying Emily down the stairs in his arms carefully. "Not yet, but he's trying to get things perfect for her birthday. He shouldn't be too long now. He said that he's wrapping up the rest of her presents whilst the rest of the team do alien business, or whatever they do and apparently Jack's sister…I didn't know that he had one is helping Gwen's husband, Rhys to prepare the food and stuff. Though from what Ianto told me in the past, Alice didn't get on with Jack, I guess they made up somewhere down the line. Which is absolutely wonderful don't you think?" Rhiannon asked, as she took Emily from Johnny and placed her on her hip, she was pleased to notice that the little girl was holding her Barbie tightly, like she was afraid that she was going to lose it or if it was going to disappear if she released her grip even just a tiny fraction.

"Yeah since you and Ianto never fall out" Johnny replied as he trudged back upstairs again. "Oh shut it you. We're not perfect siblings but it's nice to see him settle down and be happy. Just stop calling him and Jack queers. Jack is family now and they're raising their children amazingly" Rhiannon pointed out. "Yeah and how does that work? Surrogate mother?" Johnny shouted back down. "Well its got to be isn't it? They're certainly not adopted. You're honestly not suggesting that one of them got pregnant are you? Completely impossible…" she trailed off as her mobile went off.

"Ianto?" she asked as she answered the phone. "Hey Rhi, I'm on my way now. Jack just phoned me to say he has Emily's big present and is going back to the house to help Alice and Rhys out. The boys should be helping out by now as well. They sneaked off to play football earlier" Ianto chuckled. "Alright Yan. I'll see you in a little while" Rhiannon replied before saying her goodbye and hanging up. "Alright you, let's get your shoes back on so your Da can take you back home" she smiled at Emily as she sat on the sofa with her and started to put her little shoes on her feet.

Jack was grateful to find Griffin and Tucker at the front door when he arrived back home. He had phoned Ianto and hopefully the Welshman could talk Rhiannon into coming along to the birthday party as well. It would be the icing on the cake at making his daughter's birthday extra special.

"Hey you two. Come and help me out with your sister's present. Alice still inside?" Jack asked as he opened the back of the car and started to get the dollhouse out. He and Alice were finally getting along, even though Alice insisted that it was only for the children that she was doing it but she seemed more happier since Jack had let her get more involved in his and the children's lives.

"Yeah, she's just getting the mini sausage rolls out. They look brilliant! Shame Stephen couldn't make it, I wanted to play on the Nintendo Wii with him but Alice said he had college commitments so couldn't make it. He bought Emily a present though" Griffin replied as he started to help out with the dollhouse, Tucker not too far behind him.

His boys had grown up extremely well. Sharing the looks of both him and Ianto. He wasn't surprised when Griffin got the most looks from teenage girls, Griffin had grown up handsome and he was only fifteen years old. Tucker was ten and still a little bit young to gain female admirers but his looks were starting to come through as well.

"Getting a little too enthusiastic about mini sausage rolls there Griff and yes I knew about Stephen being unable to make it. His exams are coming up and his revising has to come first. Careful, Griffin…Tucker help please! I don't want your brother doing his back in" Jack explained before looking to his other son to actually move and help them. Between all of them, they managed to get the dollhouse inside and into the spare room.

When they emerged, Jack went straight to the kitchen to check on Alice and Rhys. They had done an amazing job whilst he had been out. Enough food for everyone and the living room had changed from its normal living room status to a world of balloons, banners and silly string.

"Did you do everything by yourselves? I'm impressed" Jack asked with a grin as he leant against the nearest kitchen station. "No, we had the boys in the living room blowing up balloons and other things. Gave them something to do whilst we worked in the kitchen. Also kept them from stealing the food" Rhys replied as he put tin foil over a fresh batch of cheese sandwiches.

"You got my boys to actually help out? Ok, now I'm doubly impressed" Jack chuckled. "Well they were moaning about wanting to go to the shooting range at the Hub and practice with the guns but we said no. Plus they really need the permission from you and Ianto to go down there, preferably with your supervision. You do go down with them don't you?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow at her father.

"I do. Ianto has offered to in the past but if one of them is badly off target, I'll come back if they accidentally shoot me. Can't say that about Ianto" Jack replied. "I still think its wrong that you told them about you being unable to die. They shouldn't know that Dad" Alice told him, sounding very disapproving of her father. Which probably wasn't anything new.

"Alice, you promised that you would let it go. They're fine with it and this is Emily's day, so don't spoil it. I thought we got past this" Jack sighed. "I know I did, I just worry about the children" Alice replied. "Griffin isn't a child anymore, he's sixteen in a few months. He's a teenager and Tucker isn't too far behind" Jack argued before taking a deep steadying breath. "Anyway, do you need any help in here?" he asked, glancing around for something to do.

"Thought you were picking up Emily?" Rhys asked surprised. "I was originally but Thomas rang to say that he had almost finished the dollhouse. So me and Ianto decided that it would be better if I collected Emily's main present since I'm good friends with Thomas and he would pick up Emily from his sister's and drag Rhiannon back with him" Jack explained.

"Dad, you can open the packet of crisps and throw them into a bowl" Alice suddenly shouted at him, making him jump slightly. "You asked if we wanted help. You can help by doing that. Where's the boys?" she asked.

"Here. We were just finishing off the balloons and Tucker thought it would be fun to burst a few. There's enough for Emily to play with though. What do want us for?" Griffin replied, coming into the kitchen. "Can you help your Uncle Rhys with putting foil over the food bowls please? Last thing we need are flies deciding to become residents to them" Alice asked them as she put the finishing touches to the birthday cake.

"Sure, cause that's a lovely image" Tucker smirked, taking some foil off Rhys and starting to wrap it over the sausage rolls as Griffin took the sandwich trays. "Isn't this a bit too much? We're not going to have the entire city of Cardiff in here" Griffin asked with a chuckle. "Well we can use the leftovers kids, no worries" Jack replied, pulling his phone out as he felt it vibrate against him. "Ianto's on his way with Emily and Rhiannon. Let's get these in the living room" he informed everyone, starting to feel slightly nervous in case something went wrong but yet excited at seeing his daughter's face when she arrived.

Ianto had changed his daughter into her brand new party dress before setting off in the car with Emily and Rhiannon. He had taken the family Audi and Jack had taken the SUV, which Ianto had not been happy about. That was the Torchwood vehicle and not supposed to be used for little errands but Jack had explained the size of the dollhouse and that he would have less trouble getting it in the back of the SUV since it was bigger even though it had taken Jack about five minutes to actually persuade Ianto into letting him take it.

Rhiannon smiled as she watched the sleeping child in her baby seat. Emily's fingers were in her mouth and she was deeply asleep. "Is everything ready?" she whispered, not quite able to take her eyes off her sleeping niece. Ianto had stopped the car to check on the reply to his text. "According to Jack's text then yes. Typical that my daughter has fallen asleep in the car though, suppose the little nap would be good for her though. Give her more energy for the party. You haven't fed her have you?" Ianto asked suddenly.

"Ianto, do you not know me at all? I've only given her cheese and crackers and a carton of Ribena. She will be hungry enough for her party food" she replied with a roll of her eyes. She loved her brother but sometimes she could strangle him for his organisation of everything.

"That's good. She loves the Barbie you've bought her" he noted as he stopped at traffic lights. In Emily's free hand she was holding the Barbie close to her, using it as a security blanket.

"I was worried that she wouldn't. Where have you been anyway? I know Jack went to get the dollhouse that you've bought between you but what you been doing?" Rhiannon asked.

"I had to pick up her dress from the shops, then I had to gather other stuff from the supermarket. I've been going backwards and forwards to the house and the shops, including in that I had to get some more coffee beans" Ianto replied as he indicated left.

"You and your coffee. You are a wonder Ianto Jones but I have to admit that you've had a knack of making a brilliant coffee since you were a teenager, what is your secret?" Rhiannon commented. "Oh no, Jack doesn't even know my secret on how I make his coffee taste amazing so I'm not going to be telling you Rhi" Ianto chuckled. "But I'm your sister. Your family" Rhiannon protested. "Yes and Jack is now my family, my civil partner. I might pass the recipe onto the kids eventually, when they're old enough to really appreciate good coffee but otherwise its staying a secret" Ianto replied with a cheeky grin.

"Griffin is a teenager, he should be ready for the recipe don't you think?" Rhiannon pointed out, smiling at her brother's expression. "Yes but he still doesn't appreciate good coffee. He'll get the recipe when he turns 21. I think that's fair enough. Right, we're here. Use your key to get in and I'll wake up Emily and hope she doesn't get too grumpy at me. She hates being woken up when she's in a deep sleep. Takes after Jack there when he does occasionally sleep that is" Ianto chuckled.

Ianto had managed to wake up his daughter without too much trouble, she looked around her sleepily as she was carried into the living room, though she was quickly brought around by the loud Happy Birthday from everyone in the room and then being transferred from her Da to her Daddy who she clung onto.

"Happy birthday baby!" Jack grinned, as he let her take in the surroundings. She clapped her hands together in delight as she spotted the balloons. "Mine?" she asked her father a little shyly which surprised Jack. She wasn't a shy child, she was quite confident but then she was the centre of attention all of a sudden and it was bound to be a little overwhelming.

"Yes they're yours. Do you want to play with them or play with your birthday present?" Jack asked, secretly hoping that she wanted to play with her main present but then a three year old could easily accept empty boxes and balloons as a birthday present, they were quite easy to please. "Present! Please Daddy!" Emily replied, looking at him with wide eyes. At that moment, Jack wouldn't' have refused his daughter anything. She was so incredibly cute!

"Ok then. Let's go into the spare room then and you can play with your birthday present" Jack told her, carrying her towards the room and aware that Ianto was not far behind, he wanted to see their daughter's face too. When he placed her gently on the floor and gave her a gentle push to get her moving, Jack and Ianto couldn't have wished for a more positive reaction. She squealed in delight as she spotted the dollhouse and ran to it, landing a little hard on her knees which caused Jack to become concerned Daddy Jack but relaxed when Ianto rested a hand on his shoulder, in her excitement Emily hadn't hardly felt the pain of the fall and there was no need for Jack to check on her. If she had hurt herself, everyone in the house and probably the street would have known about it. Their daughter had a pair of lungs on her and no mistake about it.

"Do you like it baban?" Ianto asked, as he watched their daughter explore the giant dollhouse, her face full of wonderment. "Yep! Love it! Thank you Daddy and Da!" she beamed, getting off the floor and rushing at them for a hug and kiss. "I'm glad you like baby. Now I'll let you play with it for a little while then you're going back in the living room, can't have a party without the birthday girl can we?" he chuckled. "Ok" Emily agreed but pouted slightly, bounding back over to play with the dollhouse. Jack and Ianto shared a look with each other, they had definitely made their daughter's birthday extra special.


	4. Thunderstorm

Owen had been left babysitting a five year old Tucker whilst Jack and Ianto had taken Griffin out to a football game, that was laughable in itself. He should have taken Griffin to the game, he was more sporty than Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones but he had work to do which Harkness had pointed out. The alien insect that they had recently found wasn't about to do its own autopsy or better yet, come back to life and tell Owen exactly what had happened to it and what species it was. Though Owen would have cashed in big if they were dealing with a talking insect.

He had left Tucker playing with one of Jack's rock things. Apparently to Harkness, it was harmless and not worth anything so his son could play with it for something to do. Until Gwen came back from her field project and a detour to a shop to get him some crayons and a colouring book that is. Tucker was in Owen's line of sight so he could work and keep an eye on the little boy at the same time. Everything was peaceful until a giant crash of a thunder cloud echoed through the hub.

Owen had forgotten that thunderstorms could be heard through the hub. They weren't that far underground to escape the loud noises of a thunderstorm but at least the lightning was unable to be seen.

Owen was still in mid thought and yelped as he felt something grab hold of his leg. He began to start shaking his leg to get the creature off him until he realised, quite sheepishly that Tucker was holding onto his leg for dear life, afraid to let go.

"Hey, its alright mate. Just thunder" Owen soothed, reaching down to try and extract the little boy from his leg with difficulty. Eventually prising Tucker's hands away from his leg, he quickly picked him up and held him on his hip. Not quite sure what to do.

"Thunder?" Tucker asked quietly, his little face full of fear. The little mite was terrified and Owen couldn't really blame him. The last time that they had had a major thunder and lightning storm was when Tucker was still a baby and wasn't affected by it. Griffin had been frightened it but Ianto had been there to soothe his eldest son. Why did Jack and Ianto make it look so damn easy?

"Yeah thunder. Nothing to be scared of Tuck. I'd worry more about the lightning since that can hurt you" Owen replied, then closed his eyes as he realised on what he had said. Sure, that was going to calm down a scared child wasn't it? _Great going Owen! You've just signed yourself a contract to never do babysitting for Jack and Ianto ever again_ he thought to himself and strangely that bothered him.

Tucker's face screwed up as he took in Owen's words and starting to cry loudly. Where were the girls when Owen needed them? He didn't know how to deal with a crying child, if he smacked Tucker then he was bound to get it in the neck from his parents and that would seal his fate, he wouldn't see the boys ever again. He knew Jack well, that man was overprotective enough without going over the edge into mother hen mode.

"Hey now, little man. I'm sorry. Uncle Owen is a bad man. You're safe in here. Promise. I bet Daddy and Da are on their way back with your brother. They wouldn't leave you too long in a storm, you know that" Owen soothed, taking a sigh of relief when Tucker's crying ceased a little bit. "Good boy, you're alright. It's just the clouds having a fight that's all. It's just noise" he continued calmly.

Tucker whimpered again as another clap of thunder echoed through the hub, trying to cling back onto to Owen. "I want Daddy!" Tucker wailed.

"I know you do Tucker and I'll phone your Da and daddy in a minute. Look, what does Da do when you're scared?" Owen asked, completely at a loss of what to do. He didn't have any experience with small upset children whatsoever and he needed a little bit of help because there was no way in hell that he was going to manage on his own without it. If Tucker could give him a point in the direction, he would be eternally grateful and that's just what the little boy did.

"He reads me a story" Tucker replied quietly, still clinging tightly to Owen as if afraid that his uncle was going to leave him alone if he let go. "Ok. That's easy enough. Does Da bring your books with him?" Owen asked. "Yep. In Daddy's office. Aladdin?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah I'll read you Aladdin. Come on then, I'll just go and get the book and then we can head to the nice hub sofa and I'll read to you until your parents and your big brother get back so I can do some work. That sound fair?" Owen reasoned. "Yep" came the reply causing Owen to sigh in relief. Reading a story, he could do.

When Jack and Ianto finally got back, letting Griffin run up ahead to go to the hub toilets whilst they carried in some takeaway food for them and the boys, briefly kissing each other as they headed into the hub to find Owen, they both stopped and looked at each other in amusement when they found Tucker and Owen. Tucker was snuggled up comfortably against Owen fast asleep, while the medic had a protective arm over his nephew also fast asleep.


End file.
